Storm Chasers

I watched a full season of this on Amazon prime (the 2009 season). I loved it! No other show/documentary/film will bring you as close as these guys do to a tornado. The premise of this show is simple. A number of teams go out to various locations in the United States that are expecting tornadoes. Using advanced meteorology, doppler radar, and other scientific instruments the teams track, intercept, and collect scientific data on monstrous tornadoes.

The show is chest pounding. This isn't Jersey Shore or a lame reality show. This is a serious, weather and science based TV show. These guys are risking their lives to jump straight into dangerous tornadoes. The thing that grabs me and makes this show unique and above average are the fact that these guys literally go into tornadoes using armored vehicles. I rate this show an 8/10, it's definitely above average. A few shortcomings though prevent it from being a "great" series. Many episodes are the same rinse-and-repeat formula. Example - "Hey guys, lets go out and chase a tornado. We have a tornado warning, OMG A TORNADO, TORNADO ON THE GROUND! LETS GET OUT THE CAR IN DANGEROUS THUNDER/LIGHTING AND FILM IT!! OKAY NOW LETS INTERCEPT IT! WAIT, WE'RE TOO CLOSE, TOO CLOSE!!!"

A while in episodes get a bit repetitive and cheesy. Also ALL the episodes have some fairly poor editing. The show will film a dramatic sequence, go into a commercial cut, and then on the return they recap the same dramatic scenes as if the viewer forgot what they were watching. If it wasn't for the same rinse/repeat formula and poor editing this show would be almost a 10/10. Still, definitely worth a watch whether you are tornado fan or not. The action sequences are totally worth it and the few shortcomings of the show are easily tolerated. This show is educational and shows how dangerous tornadoes can be.

Out of all the Reality Series, this has me at the edge of the seat

I'm confused. I thought this was airing on the Discovery Channel, not the Soap Opera Channel. When I watch the Discovery Channel, I want to "discover" or learn something. Not watch drama between the people on the screen. I think this show could have gone for MUCH longer, had they just left the drama out. I think a great deal of it was scripted anyways. I understand that ratings matter, and that it's money that moves stuff, not just educational stuff, but then why isn't the show on anymore? Maybe because the drama just got SO OLD. The producers ruined a potentially great way to get money into research. I just watched the entire series, so it's all fresh in my mind. There were great ideas that could be used to research and possibly save tons of money(building damage) and hundreds of lives, but will they be used now? Who knows?

Why does everything have to have drama? I mean, Ghost Hunters had drama in the beginning, thankfully they dropped most, if not all of it. Isn't there enough drama covering the damage and the lives that have been changed in just a few minutes? Why add the other garbage? Bring back the show, but not the drama!

I watched this when it first aired and recently watched it again, in part to remember all the people who have since died, and to see if my original opinion had changed. It did! I'm dropping my rating from a 5 to a 3 because it's even more excruciating now. I was reminded that even if (let's be generous) say 90% of the "reality drama" was manufactured, these guys are STILL the biggest bunch of egotistical, whiny, transparent and one-dimensional tool-bags ever to grace cable TV -with two exceptions. Josh Warman is an excellent scientist, and a credit to the profession. Tim Samaras and company as well, rest their sousl.

Casey and Timmer, however, seem to thrive on being the most colossal jackasses possible. When Casey spends 1% of the time claiming to care about the science (while alienating Wurman, his only link to science), and 99% of the time whining about his 1 in a million shot (for a movie which ironically apparently kind of...sucked), You can tell what his real motivation is: Money and Glory. That's it.

And Timmer... I get the impression he's the kind of guy who walks into a room, sleazily introduces himself to everyone, one by one, as "Hi. Reed Timmer. Extreme meteorologist". Hell, he's billed as that in the credits. Not content to simply be a meteorologist, he's *extreme*. While he at least has the education, his motives are blatantly financial as well. His being on the show was an unfortunate confluence of reality and bro culture that darn near killed Discovery channel.

Yes, the videos are good, and kudos to them for going out and getting them. But it gets really tiring, every time there's a storm to chase, to hear them practically wetting themselves with the same tired lines: "that's about to go huge!!!" and "that's going to be a huge tornado!!!" etc. All while canned heavy metal guitar relentlessly crunches away in the background. Meanwhile, Casey needs to act pissy, show us his sad face, and remind us -yet again- how much he really needs his money shot... Just in case we forgot since the previous chase 10 minutes earlier. Not since Roger in RENT has anyone been so singleminded.

If the show had focused more on Wurman, Samaras/ and the Vortex/Twstex projects, it would hav been so much better. Perhaps a little drier, maybe not quite as as "extreme", but a hell of a lot less annoying. Wurman and his laconic snarkiness could have carried the thing. Alas, it was not to be. At least now you can find tons of excellent videos on YouTube, and without all the whiny drama.

Most of us have seen storm chasing documentaries in our lifetime, wondering in awe at those magnificent, terrifying acts of nature called tornadoes. The problem, though, is that after awhile, we're used to the script: A team comes in with either the latest technology or just a rogue group of storm chasers, goes into a dangerous storm, and captures some cool footage and/or data. That's all well and good, but in the end, it's not much more than eye candy.

Storm Chasers, by contrast, takes this to a whole new level. By expanding single shows into full-season episodes, and by focusing just as much on the individual storm chasers as the storms themselves, we get to know them as real humans and not just random people. We become interested in how the individuals react differently to the exact same storms, and after awhile we learn what their hot buttons are and what makes them tick. We see the contrasts in Josh's methodical style, Sean's aggressiveness and lack of patience, and Reed's frat-boy-like attitude. It's almost as much fun to watch the personalities bounce off one another as it is to watch them pursue their targets. Part of those differences stem from the fact that the lead characters all have different goals. Josh wants to gather radar- and probe-based data from tornadoes; Reed wants to get up-close film of tornadoes to sell to media outlets; and most notably, Sean wants to take his 16,000-pound behemoth Tornado Intercept Vehicle right into a tornado, film it from the inside, and sell the footage to IMAX.

That said, it really wouldn't be accurate to describe Storm Chasers as a reality show. This IS about storm-chasing, and that remains the focus of this show. There is some excellent footage throughout the series. It gets downright terrifying on more than one occasion, because remember, having gotten attached to the individual characters, you don't want anything bad to happen to them. Considering that this is a non-staged, nonfiction story makes this all that much more intense.

Whether you're a tornado guru or don't even know the difference between a cold front and a warm front, odds are very good that you'll like Storm Chasers. It has a style comparable to Deadliest Catch; chances are if you like Deadliest Catch, you'll like Storm Chasers as well. Personally, I absolutely love it. I'm currently halfway through the DVDs of the second season, and I'm completely glued to it. It is that good.